Downtown restaurant burns in early morning fire

Another downtown restaurant burned early Thursday.

The Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service said firefighters were sent to Boujee Restaurant & Bar — the former Earls on Main Street — at 191 Main St. shortly after 5:45 a.m.

Crews declared the fire under control within an hour, the WFPS said in a news release. No injuries were reported.

The Winnipeg Police Service said the fire is under investigation.

Temporary road closures were in place on northbound Main.

Amit Saini and his partners opened Boujee, located near The Forks, in the spring of 2024.

“I find this location pretty fascinating,” Saini told the Free Press in 2024. “This is the perfect location.”

The location was briefly a seafood eatery before it became Boujee.

Several city restaurants have been hit by arson this year, including Thida’s Thai Restaurant on Donald Street and Mae Sunee Thai Cuisine on Erin Street in July. Police believe they were targeted attacks.

Security video from both Thai restaurants showed the attackers breaking into both properties in the early morning before trying to ignite Molotov cocktails.

Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter

Biidaajimowin | News from the Centre

Wednesdays

Sent weekly from the heart of Turtle Island, an exploration of Indigenous voices, perspectives and experiences.

Sign up for Biidaajimowin | News from the Centre

Sign Up

I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

In one video posted to Facebook, two men were seen at the Donald Street restaurant on July 4. One, wearing a mask, smashed the glass with a hammer, then tried to light an object on fire. When that failed, another object was ignited and thrown into a booth. Police arrived quickly and stopped the fire from spreading.

Commonwealth Kitchen & Bar was also set ablaze in July. Owner Nikola Maharajh said it appeared to be a random act. The fire at the 456 Main St. restaurant was quickly extinguished, but the sprinkler system caused extensive flooding, leaving several centimetres of water in the basement.

Maharajh said surveillance video showed a man using a brick or cinder block to smash three windows before throwing something inside that ignited a booth.

Johnny G’s and Exchange Event Centre were torched in August, with both fires being investigated as arson cases, police said.

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca

Scott Billeck
Reporter

Scott Billeck is a general assignment reporter for the Free Press. A Creative Communications graduate from Red River College, Scott has more than a decade’s worth of experience covering hockey, football and global pandemics. He joined the Free Press in 2024.  Read more about Scott.

Every piece of reporting Scott produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.